Senior constable Stephen Thomas told an inquest into Day’s death that he and his partner received a radio call about an “unruly” passenger who was drunk or drug affected on the train.

It was the night of the police Christmas party in Castlemaine.

Thomas said police were told by train conductor Shaun Irvine that there was an Aboriginal female on the train who was “unruly, intoxicated, and did not have a ticket.”

“Other people on the train had a look of disgust and it was obvious to me she made other people on the train uncomfortable,” Thomas said. He said he spoke to her but “her replies made no sense to the questions we were asking. Her words were almost unintelligible.”

He later added: “I decided that I could not leave her on the train the way she was.”

Thomas said they tried at the station to contact a family member, but were unsuccessful. As Day was directed toward the back of a police van to take her to the station, he said: “I heard her say, ‘here we go again, it’s like this is it’.

“I said to her it wasn’t like that and we were trying to look after her.”

Earlier, Irvine said he requested police attendance because Day was asleep with her feet in the aisle and was not able to respond “meaningfully” when he asked if she had a ticket or where she was travelling.

Tanya Day died in custody because of inadequate police checks, inquest hears

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He maintained, over two days in the witness box, that he was concerned about her “safety”, including the risk that, if she remained on the train, she might get off at an unmanned station and “slip or fall” when unsupervised.

His evidence followed a ruling by coroner Caitlin English that she would not release all the CCTV evidence before it had been played in court. English said she reserved her decision on whether to release CCTV of Day in the police cells at all, in the interest of preserving Day’s dignity. Day’s family argued for the footage to be released.